M

MANAphoto (For
Wellington)

From Wikipedia: "Mana is a traditional term that refers to a concept among the speakers of Oceanic languages, including Melanesians, Polynesians, and Micronesians. It is an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects and that instills in the appreciative observer a sense of respect or wonder. In anthropological discourse, mana as a generalized concept has attained a significant amount of interest; often understood as a precursor to formal religion. It has commonly been interpreted as "the stuff of which magic is formed", as well as the substance of which souls are made. (...) In Polynesian culture (for example, Hawaiian and MÇori) mana is most similar to the English concept of respect; sharing elements of respect, authority, power and prestige; however, it shares aspects of responsibility, balance and purity as well. The word’s meaning is complex because mana is a basic and important foundation to the Hawaiian concept of spirituality, religion, society and the whole of reality.

Similar concepts are those of Chi in Chinese, Prana in Hindu philosophy or, to some extent the philosophical concept of Ether.

Island in New Zealand. Mana is
an abbreviation of Te Mana o Kupe ki Aotearoa translating as 'the ability of Kupe to cross the ocean to Aotearoa' or 'the prestige of (the explorer) Kupe in discovering New Zealand'. Kupe is reported to have made Mana his home while he explored this region > www.doc.govt.nz | ourworld.compuserve.com | www.manaisland.org.nz

In Havaiian language and philosophy
of Huna it means energy of life or life force energy, the same as Chi in Chinese or Shakti/Prana in Sanskrit language. > www.huna.com

MANHATTANphoto
(Recent Forgeries)

MARIEL

MARRAKESH photo
(45301)

(pop. 672,506), is one of the largest cities
in Morocco, one of the country's traditional capitals. Once it
was the capital of a vast Berber empire. The city was founded
by the Berber ruler Yusuf ibn Tashfin in 1062 and reached the
height of its prosperity in the 1400's. Its importance declined
when a succession of Arab rulers replaced the Berbers in Morocco.
Set of Hidalgo. > source: IBM World Book Multimedial Enyclopedia > wikipedia.org

MEDIUM photo
(CoM)

Means in the middle

A method or way of giving information to
many people (TV, Press)

A substance for carrying or sending
something (medium for electricity)

Methods/techniques of artistic
expression (oil painting, drama, etc.)

A person considered be able to
exchange messages with the dead > The Penguin English Student's
Dictionary

MERZOUGA photo
(THiG)

METRO SECTION photo
(Recent Forgeries)

The Section of the Los Angeles
Times which discusses local (City and County) news as oposed to the first section of the paper that discusses national and international news. > www.latime.com

MIDTHUNDER photo
and dedication in Miyelo

David Midthunder, Native
American actor, (Assiniboine-Sioux), Hidalgo cast member in Hidalgo > us.imdb.com

MINERVA painting
Red Minerva (Recent Forgeries)

One of the most important goddesses
in ancient Roman mythology, resembled the Greek goddess Athena
and like her was a virgin goddess. Favorite child of Jupiter,
the king of the gods. One myth tells of her being born out of
Jupiter's head, fully grown and dressed in armor.
Minerva had a variety of functions. Originally, she represented
skill in handicrafts, particularly those associated with women,
such as spinning and weaving. Later, Minerva came to symbolize
general skill. Still later, the Romans worshiped her as the goddess
of wisdom. The owl has traditionally been considered wise because
it was the bird of Minerva.
The Romans, who believed that warfare involved the higher mental powers, worshiped Minerva as the goddess of the intellectual aspect of war. Most artists showed her wearing armor and a helmet. Minerva carried a magic shield or breastplate called the aegis. > source: IBM World Book Multimedial Enyclopedia

Minerva Josephine Chapman
(1858 - 1947), American painter, known best for miniatures
on ivory, impressionist landscapes and still lifes with oils.
She is listed in the Women of Courage, Ten North Country Pioneers
in Profile, published first in 1989 by the St. Lawrence
County, NY Branch, AAUW. (Canton, NY, the hometown of Viggos
college, St. Lawrence University, is a part of St. Lawrance County
-- maybe that's the link?) Added on 7. July 2004: Minerva
Chapman is mentioned on the "Thank you" page in Recent
Forgeries, so there is definetely a connection. > askart.com | humber.northnet.org

Minerva K. Teichert (1888-1976), American painter, truly passionate about the art since she was a child, with an impressing biography. The first woman sent to an art school with the official blessing of the LDS (Mormon) Church leadership. Many of her paintings were dealing with the history of Mormons. > askart.com | www.binggallery.com

A Chestnut mare (Peruvian Paso)
which was for sale on the Ten Mountain Ranch (Oregon, USA) in 2002,
by accident(?) her mother's name was Amarylis...

MIRAMAR photo
(For Wellington exhibition)

A Peninsula east of Wellington, NZ, domicile of Peter Jackson's Film Studio > www.miramar.co.nz

Miramar Marine Corps Air Station,
San Diego, CA, USA

Miramar Records - US music label

MITAKUYE OYASIN photo
(Miyelo)

In Lakota it means All My
Relations, We are All Related or We Are All One,
although the literal translation does not explain its complexity.An universal prayer / invocation / mantra, used in rituals
like the Sweat
Lodge; used also as greeting, with a function comparable
maybe to "God bless you" in Christianity). It is ment
to remind us that we all are parts of the same Universe. (oyasin
= all; takuye = relative; mitakuye = my relative) > www.home.earthlink.net

"... a phrase, used prayerfully, to remind us of our
place and responsibility in the world. The indigenous peoples
of North America are as aware and serious about bringing balance
and peace to the planet (the Mother) now as we were hundreds
of years ago" > www.orgsites.com

"To pray this prayer is to petition God on behalf of
everyone and everything on Earth. Mitakuye Oyasin honors
the sacredness of each person's individual spiritual path, acknowledges
the sacredness of all life (human, animal, plant, etc..) and
creates an energy of awareness which strengthens not only the
person who prays but the entire planet. Soon after I first learned
this prayer, I saw that it represented all that needed to be
said. It was a prayer of respect, honor and love for all of mankind,
and for the Earth. It was a prayer that said 'I wish goodness
and peace for all. I would leave no one out. I pray for all.'
It was a prayer that crossed the barriers of religion and could
be prayed by one of any faith. It was a prayer that united, instead
of dividing.
It is a prayer of oneness and harmony with all forms of life:
other people, animals, birds, insects, trees and plants, and
even rocks" > www.healthynewage.com

Mitakuye Oyasin means EVERYTHING... Including US!!
It is said that all things that cast a shadow possess Spirit,
and all Spirit comes from our maker, therefore we are all undeniably
related. > www.gatheringofnations.com

This powerful word (...), for which there is no equivalent
in English, is a recognition of the unity innate in the universe.
Even more, it is a salutation, a prayer for all creation to commune
in the harmony and balance that bridge the diversity of our lives.>
www.suite101.com

The Ghost Dance was a religious movement that spread rapidly among many Native American tribes in 1889. Wovoka, it's Messiah was a Paiute who never left his native Mason Valley (Nevada) but the religion he founded spread over a large part of the United States. It didn't come completely out of nowhere. Wovoka's ideas were based on an earlier prophets who had preached similar ideas among the Paiute in the 1870's, in fact some of the principles of the Ghost Dance religion can be traced back to the 17th century, the time of the first mass-colonization of the American continent.

The basic doctrine was simple: The time will soon come when all Native Americans, living and dead, will be reunited upon the regenerated earth to live again in the traditional way, free from death and disease, the buffalo and other wildlife will return. The white race will disappear.

The time of this great renewal was set for next spring, when the earth would shake and be newly covered in a fresh layer of soil. All but the faithful would be swallowed by the earth. All this would be brought about by a spiritual power known as the Father, without need of human assistance. To make it happen the followers of the religion were to dance the Ghost Dance and sing the songs as instructed by the Messiah and his emissaries: "You must not fight. Do no harm to anyone. Do right always" and wait for as long as it would take for the renewal to happen; The Messiah was quite clear this would be in the immediate future. (If you think this sounds a lot like Jehova's witnesses expecting the end of the world or fundamentalist Christians awaiting the Rapture you are right, even at the time the similarity to Christianity was noticed)

The dance was circular, performed by men and women together and lasted several days at the time, ideally resulting in trance and visions. The Songs of the Ghost Dance are hypnotizing and repetitive, [and together with] exhausting dancing going on for days, probably helped to bring about the desired trance.

Those who fell into a trance frequently reported they had met and spoken with the dead who were soon to return to earth. Sometime during the spread of the religion the Ghost Dance Shirt became a part of the ritual. It is not in the original doctrine as taught by Wovoka, but it was an integral part of the cult among the Lakota. The Ghost Shirt was a white cloth shirt, painted with symbols and decorated with eagle feathers. It was supposed to make the wearer invulnerable to the white man's weapons.

The explanation for the great success and rapid spread of the Ghost Dance is simple. By 1889 Native Americans had seen their culture and way of life destroyed by the seemingly insatiable hunger for land of the White Man, most were forced to live in overpopulated reservations where, without the means to support themselves they were dependent on rations supplied by the government. In 1889, these rations were drastically reduced resulting in famine. Many (although not all) officials responsible for the reservations were incompetent if not criminally corrupt.

Suddenly, here was a cult that promised restoration of all that had been taken from them: the Buffalo would return, the dead would live again and the White Man would disappear from their world.

The misunderstanding of the Ghost Dance religion by authorities and the mismanagement of events in the Lakota reservations of South Dakota ultimately led to the horrible massacre at Wounded Knee.

MORA
photo Buddha In Mora (Signlanguage)

MO TE UPOKO-O-TE-IKA Title
of book and exhibition

means For Wellington,
but literally translates into a gift for the Head of the Fish.
It relates to a Maori legend about Maui (a semi-god) and his
brothers who went fishing in their waka (canoe) which became
the South Island of New Zealand. Maui used a magic fish hook
made from the jaw bone of his grandmother. He hit himself on
the nose and smeared blood on the hook and casting out this sacred
hook snared a great beautiful fish, the North Island! Maui told
his brothers to stay in the waka while he made his peace with
the fish and thanked the Gods but the impatient brothers ran
all over the back of the fish which became angry, thrashed about
and left the land forever cut into valleys and mountains. Wellington
is at the head of that fish.> thanks to Aoraki for providing the information

Main character in a novel by
Virginia Woolf, and a movie by Sally Potter. From Virginia
Woolf resource materials at www.mantex.co.uk:
a character who changes sex part-way through the book - and lives from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Using this device (which is strangely credible) Woolf explores issues of gender and identity as her hero-heroine moves from life as an emissary to the Court of St James, through friendships with Swift and Alexander Pope, through to motoring through the west end of London in the 1920s. The character is loosely based on Vita Sackville-West, who at one time was Woolf's lover. > Virginia
Woolf- Orlando | Orlando:
the Story | IMDb.com